The Freelance Industry

Freelancing in the media is becoming a popular way for people to enter the creative industry. Freelancers would work on short projects and move on to the next as soon as the job is done. The issue here, however, is the turnover rate of this industry is really high. With the growing competition in the industry, freelancers constantly face issues of insecurity and uncertainty of employment. In this essay I will be discussing the implications of the rise of popularity in the freelance industry and core concepts that freelancers take in to secure employment. Firstly, immaterial labour is a prominent concept that freelancers have to carry out as a form of socialisation to develop contacts and networks to ensure employment. Secondly, the ability to craft their own identity to be different from others becomes a need to be more apparent to employers. Lastly, how flexibility and adaptability as key factor to a continuous stream of jobs.
Immaterial labour was something that freelancers had to go through as a form of socialisation …show more content…
Freelancers survive in the industry based on contacts, the creation of an identity and the ability to be flexible and adapt to their work environment. Immaterial labour is always required as a freelancer to have continuous engagement with other people. Social networking provides the availability of work through job recommendations or job information. High competition in the market therefore requires not only contacts, but an identity that sets them apart from others. Self-identity allows an individual to showcase the skills and value they can provide to the organisation. Lastly, adapting to the market conditions is key to survival as freelancers who enter the industry would do anything to be in it. Being the jack of all trades would mean that an individual would be able to adapt themselves to different situations which could secure future